A leafy and lovely western hideaway...

While it could do with a little lightening up, No 1 Birchley is a rare treat, writes Tommy Barker.

A couple of decades maturing of a greenfield site can transform a development — and, in the case of Cork’s Birchley, it has given huge privacy to each of the eight, one-off homes in this western suburban hideaway.

Birchley is just below the grounds of the Irish Guide Dogs Association on the far end of the Model Farm Road, just before the Poulavone roundabout, and leafy and lovely it is, once in past its discreet roadway entrance.